


Unwritten Lyrics

by Thelastpilot



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-25 21:48:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13221903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thelastpilot/pseuds/Thelastpilot
Summary: Adrien Agreste is a first year Literature teacher at Lycée Molière, a 'school city' in Paris with students from the ages of 11-19. Struggling under the stress of a short notice position Adrien is flying by the seat of his pants to try and survive the start of the school year, and finds himself unseated further still by an unexpected connection with the music teacher down the hall.





	1. Out of Place

The air was pleasant and crowded with noise as Adrien quickly hurried up the Metro steps out into the open street. He took a moment to absorb his surroundings, aware of the shoulders brushing past him as he committed the cardinal sin of dawdling at the top of a subway entrance. It was only a seconds’ hesitation, the tall reaching buildings keeping sunlight to themselves for a while more this early in the morning and leaving the cobbled sidewalks and morning commuters to fend for themselves in dim casted shadow. He was spurned to move again by a particularly nasty glance when he looked back down, and with a quick shift in the grip on his suitcase he was off down the street, hurried by his nervousness as well as his excitement.

It was the first of September in Paris, most people aware of the change in atmosphere for the native citizens. For visitors it was all the same, maybe only those with children even bothering to notice that the school year was eager to restart, even if it’s students were not. It was safely Saturday, and while come Monday the sidewalk would be flooded early morning with youth funneled into the waiting stone brick building at the end of the road, for now it only welcomed staff.

Adrien shifted his sweaty palm again, tugging at his light sweater and taking a breath.

He had studied a long time, done what was asked and he had a certain level of confidence in himself. It’s just that teenaged kids were a rough place to start… of course he couldn’t turn it down though, god no. Lycée Molière was an incredible place to begin teaching. The student base was small, the kids had a reputation for being by and large well behaved, and the staff was small and attentive. There were perhaps 150 teachers in the school with 1,400 students this year.

It’s just… teenagers were monsters sometimes.

Adrien shook his head, sighing deeply and reprimanding himself as he effortlessly walked shoulder to shoulder with the sidewalk traffic, aware of the school’s face on the far end waiting stoically for him.

He hadn’t even started, deciding who the kids were or ought to be was unfair. Plus, he had been a teenager at some point not even remotely all that long ago, and he had never given his teachers a hard time. He had witnessed some foul behavior sure, but mostly the kids were either kind, or disinterested.

Mm… yeah that about summed it up. Kids either cared or they didn’t, and depending on the class and the teacher, a lot of the kids didn’t.

He was stepping into a weird place, an insanely unique and relatively unfair opportunity. A teaching position in a school like this was _ridiculous_ , and had predictably only had an opening because of a literal death. The last literature teacher for his grade range had dropped dead about a month ago, the poor guy. He was old enough to have possibly seen the original written languages be formed though, so…

Happens.

Some people just didn’t retire, even if the school begged them to and offered incentives so high it outweighed their prospective retirement. People just get comfortable, and die in their desk chairs.

Which he sincerely hoped had been replaced… he had literally died in it while visiting his office during the break. Just sat down and died.

There had been a scramble to interview replacements, and when the first miracle of even getting the interview being freshly out of his student teaching had passed he was sure that was the end of it, but apparently he had made an impression.

The hiring board was entirely women, and even though the reality of it was really unprofessional it was possible they had remembered him and his charming smile over some of the other applicants with many, many, _too_ many years of experience. Maybe they were just hedging their bets and wanted to get someone a little less likely to die, or maybe they just wanted to train him themselves. Or possibly a few of the younger women had made an unprofessional decision. No matter how though, he had gotten a sort of short notice position.

New teachers usually have a solid hiring period starting at the tail end of the previous school year, so a month of clearance to plan curriculum was… crap. They assured him that they would allow him to use Mr. Idwitch’s (bless his soul) already established plan that had been uh… found with him at his desk, but from Adrien’s perspective it was…

Entirely unusable.

He made a half-hearted attempt to suppress his dread as he cleared the last of the street, vaguely looking for traffic before jogging across the road towards the looming, stone-brick building. It was an elegant building, the double wooden doors shielding a school soon to be filled with hundreds and hundreds of disinterested teenagers.

Of course they would be though, he thought to himself as he headed for the doors. With a teaching plan like Idwitch’s he was sure half of the kids wanted to smash their brains out against the desks, hell he wanted to. Just month to month of dull, dry readings and formulaic predictable analysis and stale old classics and on and on and on till they all died in their desk chairs.

He couldn’t use that, how could he possibly expect even himself to give a damn if there wasn’t any of the elements that made him love what he did, or what he was trying to start doing, at any rate. Where was the engagement? Where were the works that pulled you in and stimulated the readers into asking their _own_ questions, not just the ones that were written down already?

Alright maybe expecting his first year of teaching to be _Dead Poet’s Society_ was a little ambitious, but he had to hold on to something. His trepidation was letting his eagerness slip between his fingers, caught up in the shaking tremble of a first year teacher.

His fingertips connected with the wood of the main door, having overreached the handle in his distraction and leaving him blinking somewhat stunned at the too close entrance, only now really aware that he had arrived.

That shiver of dread slipped through him again, but he shook his head, clenching his reaching hand briefly into a fist before gripping the handle.

 _Don’t decide what the world is before you meet it,_ he reminded himself, even in his rattled state leaning on an old favorite of his.

He had been working for this for years… and he finally had the opportunity.

Don’t decide what it is without giving it the chance to show you.

He sighed, letting his hand linger on the handle, wondering what he looked like waiting at the grand, tall doors. Probably like one of the students, surely, intimidated by the soon to start school year and loitering outside. But he wasn’t a student, not anymore.

He was a teacher. And while he might not have the experience of his predecessor he did have his enthusiasm, his plans, and a little bit of humor.

Hopefully, this would be enough.

 

He pulled on the handle, straightening his stance as the door opened enough to let him slip inside.

The entrance was not entirely unfamiliar, he had been here twice before for his interviews and had thought the hall intimidating then but it had since lost of a little of its edge. His footsteps echoed on the carefully clean but weathered tile floors, having born students across it since 1888.

The building had been small once, teaching only girls for a long while into its career before opening its doors to everyone. Buildings were added and classrooms extended, until the school was a frame of buildings around a large, open courtyard. He could see parts of it through the glass panes set in the doors ahead of him, wings of offices and stairs ushering towards classrooms on either side with scatterings of glass cases and self-important awards hung on the walls. It was old and elegant, as were many things in Paris, with repairs and additions made to compliment the changing times. The courtyard, despite time, remained largely the same. Dirt paths and garden fences, stone fountains and secluded benches, overlooked by hallways laced with creeping ivy attempting to obscure the doors of the classes that resided behind them. Overall it was stone and tile and brick and ivy, woven together and hammered down with a hundred student’s steps until it became a school, waiting anciently and patiently for its newest, unprepared instructor.

Adrien nodded to himself, a small smile forming as he looked around him for the first time knowing that it was his school. He had been a visitor before, but now he could expect to be here every day, doing his best to get at least one kid to learn something.

It was admittedly still a little unsettling though, being so empty. Schools had a way of feeling out of place when not filled with students, as if being crowded and humming were a condition of its existence and without it it’s reality could be called into question.

Adrien shut the door behind him, grinning at the way the click and boom of the door echoed and ran through the hallways. His following chuckle also ran away from him, and he cast his gaze about with a little of his trepidation returning.

He had a pretty solid _guess_ about where his office was, his home base for the school year since the nature of his class meant he would be moving from place to place a lot. However, he did not have the key and he was going to have to track down the principal or about anyone at least a little more important than him to get one. Staff were afforded these two extra days to get things in order, and in his case, cram like hell to try and have a unit planned. He wanted to be tucked away in a dead man’s office so he could get to work and maybe make it feel a little like his own before Monday, but that still left him in the awkward period of standing alone in the entry way trying to remember where the offices were.

Adrien held his briefcase in front of him a little nervously, walking forward to peer down the hallways stretching in either direction. They both looked formal and old and held a dozen doors, but to his left he sighed in relief to see a small, simple sign dictating “Main Office”.

He followed them dutifully, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling new students probably had at being lost and out of place. It didn’t feel all that unlike his first day in public school, pacing around with his school bag trying to look like he knew where the health office was. Now it was inherently the same, he just had a lot more student debt and a few degrees to indicate that he still didn’t know where the health office was, but at least he knew a little about classroom management.

He paused in front of the labeled main office, recognizing it now from where he had been asked to wait during his interview. He smoothed his sweater and paused to fix his hair, then stepped inside with a prepared, warm smile for the aging secretary behind the desk.

It was a quick and uninteresting series of “Oh welcome Mr. Agreste!” and “Oh yes your key it’s right here I should- yes, yes there it is,” and all things like that, peppered with smiles and friendly chit chat. As it went on he got a little more comfortable, grinning easily as he discussed his hopes for his courses this year. He felt like a teacher, which was good. He could actually pretend a little like he had a handle on the whole thing, as the kind woman found him all the keys he’d need for this or that and another thing as well, and a crumpled map because the “floors are a labyrinth some days, especially once the kids come!”

The whole exchange only took a few minutes and quite abruptly he was back out in the hallway, pinning his briefcase to his side with an elbow and smoothing out the map of the grounds as he walked slowly in what was probably the wrong direction.

Adrien looked periodically between his paper and his surroundings, frowning at the dark wood stairs as he approached them and wondering if they might mislead him. After conferring with his guide however he gave them the benefit of the doubt, wandering up to the second floor and into the first of the ivy sheltered hallways.

He stopped at the door leading outside, standing in the open doorway and taking a moment to appreciate it. He couldn’t help but laugh, his eagerness again shoving his fears to the wayside and demanding it be heeded.

The sun had arrived, finally clearing the buildings that kept it from touching the ground to at least pour through the ivy. The warm morning light was cut to pieces by the wide, illuminated leaves and the thin railing fence, shining through the arches of stone brick that the ivy clung to and draped over. It scattered over the warm colored tile, simply marked classrooms and offices breaking up the spaces all the way down, paired with a soft, and distant tune.

Adrien turned his head as he finally strode forward, checking to make sure the last part hadn’t been imagined. There was a pause but after a moment he heard it again, sounding out and falling quiet. Like an instrument being tuned.

Adrien hummed, looking down at his map as he walked leisurely down the hall. The presence of an instrument, a violin it sounded like, was confusing but not entirely unreasonable. It was a school campus; it was entirely likely that-

Ah. Yes, a music room, that would explain it.

Adrien tapped the marking on his map, residing a small distance away from the room circled in red pen which indicated his office. On paper it was only slightly larger than a standard classroom, tucked not far from his comparatively measly office. As he continued to walk the sound grew louder as he drew closer, and he hummed again, brow furrowing.

Violins weren’t usually the sort of thing you’d find in a campus music room. Usually it was flutes and metronomes, maybe a handful of other small instruments and keyboards, not something practiced like a string instrument. Possibly the elective courses for the older students could have something a little more complex but still, the hand that played it now was clearly experienced, readying the instrument for some number it was meant to perform to the nearly vacant, sun filled hallway.

The teacher then, obviously. No students would be here for another two days, only a handful of staff were probably present, preparing their classrooms and plans.

The sound of scales climbing and restarting was as loud as it was bound to be, Adrien glancing to the side to see a single, unassuming door, left ajar.  It was smooth dark wood set in the brick, a slate gray plaque positioned beside it and reading only ‘13B Music Room’. He slowed as he passed it, but couldn’t see far inside the mostly dim interior.

Adrien took a handful of slow steps past it, thumbnail digging into the soft leather of his briefcase’s handle. Should he introduce himself? Or…?

Adrien paused fully, looking towards the door as the scales gave way to an ambling, formless tune, and he thought maybe not. He’d be interrupting, and besides they were practically neighbors for the times he was in his office, he would surely meet everyone in this row at some point or another. He continued, eyes trained on the doors now as he passed them, until he traveled the short distance to the end of the line, the corner room.

You’d think being on the end would allow for more room, but it was incredibly cramped. The door just before his was also an office, just as slim and bland and formal. He came to a stop in front of the very last door in the hall, and frowned a little at the plaque.

‘15B Office Quarters, Professor Clinton Idwitch Ph. D.’

Adrien paused, allowing a long look partially out of respect but also out of nervousness. With his free hand he idly fished for the brass key, glancing down only to sort between the three he had been given, then once found he held it before him, looking at the room number pressed into the metal.

15B. So this was him…

Adrien took a deep breath before just getting it over with, reaching out and unlocking the door, swinging it open to find a small, but not unbearably tiny office.

He sighed in relief to find it barren, kind of prepared for pictures of an old, old man and his family sat on top of a cluttered cough drop ridden desk. Instead the walls were pockmarked with holes from nails and thumbtacks, but otherwise bare. The desk had a small stack of papers and a desktop, a few sticky notes left on the monitor with Wi-Fi log ins and his personal passwords to download his class roster and things which was great to see. From the plaque he had assumed that the school had just been completely unprepared for him, but at the very least he wasn’t sitting in a dead man’s memories.

He stepped inside with a grin, closing the door behind him and setting his briefcase down on the desk. He shot the chair a hesitant look, but found it somewhat new looking so he decided it was probably alright. And even if it wasn’t he really didn’t want to know, because just knowing that the old codger had been found face down literally at this desk was…

He shook off a shiver of disgust, closing his eyes and getting acclimated to the small space.

It was bare, and likely haunted, but it was his. He’d be constantly moving between classrooms, so this was his only space to make his own. It was overwhelming, and the workload bearing down on him with so little time left stress clawing at his back but he refused to be bested.

Sure he had two days left to cement enough of a teaching plan to set up the first few weeks and he hadn’t had a chance to look over the textbook in more than a fleeting moment. And fine, he was incredibly new with no allies and was likely to get as lost going to the bathroom as he had as a child, but that wasn’t cause for panic. It was an opportunity to overcome, even if it meant many stressful nights…

Adrien wondered, briefly, what kind of fate Mr. Idwitch succumbed to at this very desk. He was young still, only 24, but he wondered if he might wile away in here until he died, out of sight under a mountain of coursework.

Dramatic maybe, but a teacher’s first year is an unrelenting learning curve of mistakes and questions. He was trying to keep his head up as best he was capable but…

Adrien’s head was bowed, staring sightlessly down at his latched briefcase when through the hall and through his door, came a sound.

It was the sort of pitch intent on interrupting, distant and muffled but violin had a way of being heard without all together being piercing. It strode down to him and rapped it’s knuckles on the door, asking for his attention.

Adrien turned as the song started, the lingering end of his failing mood sourly wondering if this was going to be a regular problem with the music room so close by, but quickly his criticism fell away.

Its tuning completed and practice scales proved unnecessary, a full piece began to play. It was peaceful and undemanding, the single instrument starting to swell and sing as if it were unaware there was no one to accompany it. It was audible but not loud through his closed door, and after a moment he reached out without standing and opened his door, letting it fall ajar.

His hand lingered, outstretched as the full tone reached him. Almost as if the melody knew it was being listened to the pace suddenly increased, and the slow elegant tune hit a turning point the moment his gaze fell back on the sun drenched ivy outside his door. The notes picked up and ran, jumping over themselves and sprinting feverously through the hallway, unrestrained and seemingly unlimited. The style was completely different, needlessly fast and complex like it had abruptly become bored with itself. The carefully beautiful music did away with pretense and set off on its own course.

“Well now you’re just showing off,” Adrien said aloud, retracting his hand but leaving the door open as he kept his focus outside. As the violin jittered and became more like a fiddle he laughed to himself, distantly surprised at himself for the humor.

He was deflecting, ignoring his stress in favor of appreciating the song, he knew that. But you grabbed for driftwood too when you were drowning, even if what you really needed was land.

‘ _Cut yourself a little slack,’_ he thought to himself, swiveling his chair to face the open door. The violin ran and played, the backdrop to his internal placating. ‘ _You’ve done what you can, and you’ll do a little more. Maybe it won’t be the best, but at the very least it’s something, right?’_

Hm…

 

Adrien sat in his chair, facing the hallway and continued to listen to the song that, for a moment, offered him a little distraction. He had work to do, he should be getting started, but all the same… this was nice too. Who knows maybe he would accomplish more if he relaxed a little bit.

He didn’t move, letting the moment be as it was as the music changed style and mood once again. It changed shape like it was alive and opinionated, losing interest in itself and switching again. It led him to wonder how long the violinist might keep it up before realizing they just might not like playing the violin, if they were so unsatisfied. The thought of it stopping, however, was disappointing to him.

Even if the musician found fault with it he thought it was incredible, clearly the player had a variety of talent if they could alter their style completely at the drop of a hat. It was company without questions to ask. It was a way of not feeling so… on his own, without having to flash a perfect smile and pretend like he knew how to be a teacher.

Maybe he was overthinking it, or maybe he was just grateful for something to fill his bland, featureless space. Still though, as the music slowed and found a peaceful tempo again amidst the wide leaves of the ivy and the stone brick arches, he had stability. A moment to recapture his determination that was so eager to flee from him.

He rooted it to the spot, leaving the door open but turning back to his desk with a little more strength, his anxious doubts quieted beneath a quirky, woven tune.

The distraction had come at just the right time to keep him from being overly dramatic. Thinking back to the image of withering away at his desk actually made him chuckle, though it had only been a few minutes since it was first formed. He was panicking and being stupid, it just took a little clarity to see that sometimes.

Panic be damned, he decided. Doing nothing would only make it worse, if he wanted to get a grip he needed to have something to lean on, and a few weeks’ worth of lesson plans was a good place to start. Then research and planning, and reading and learning. He had to get acclimated, pick up his copy of the book, he needed to check with department lead to see how early exam data needed to be collected and- so on, and so on.

Just a little bit of strength, just a stretch of land to stand on. Nothing big or life changing, just something to stop you on the way down long enough for you to get your feet back underneath you. Or maybe it wasn’t even that, so quick as it had been, but something to snap him out of it.

‘ _Stop being stupid_ ,’ the warping violin might warn. _‘Just get to work.’_

“Just get to work…” he muttered to himself, nodding his head and warming up his desktop to get started, pulling papers from his briefcase and casting about for a pen.

“Just get started, and see where it goes.”


	2. Just That Kind of Day

September 3rd came upon him faster than he had been prepared for, but it was not unexpected. Adrien had known when he got the job that he was going to have to hit the ground running, and that the first section of the year was likely to be a dead sprint until he could catch his breath. However, despite his grim expectations, he was better off than he had anticipated. Still wildly behind but, better!

Adrien was in a hurry to leave his apartment, knowing that the traffic of the morning commute was going to make the metro a breathing wall of ill-tempered people with places to be and no patience to get there. In an effort to be early he was eager to leave, but he stopped again abruptly in his hallway, turning in front of the full length mirror he kept there and patting a crease from his jacket.

He looked sharp, in his opinion, and looked himself over for anything out of place. Some might say it was too formal but he always thought that work attire had license to be stylish. The instinct to wear a fitted suit well had been driven into him since adolescence, but at least he had his father to thank for the arsenal of suits he intended to use as his work wardrobe.

He pulled at the fitted black suit jacket, admiring the quality of it and nodding to himself. It was paired with a sensible white collared button up and a dark burgundy tie, diagonal thin strips of white and a smartly polished tie clip making him look like how you might imagine any young twenties literature teacher might look, which he honestly quite liked. Once brought together by dark slacks, leather shoes, his not entirely needed but still useful glasses, he looked perfectly the part.

He took a moment to open his messenger bag one last time, the leather bag having won over his briefcase for the sake of movement and practicality. It was weighty with everything he needed for the day, a clear attempt at organization made even if the inside of it still looked cramped and cluttered. He felt that, in itself, this was a perfectly good metaphor for himself.

Clearly an effort wrapped in a professional package, filled with too much information and coming off a bit fumbling.

Least he was trying though. And at least he looked nice.

He shot a glance at his watch, huffing a little at the time as if it were doing this sort of thing on purpose just to needle him. He was ten minutes late for being early, which meant he wasn’t late at all but he was practically on time, which wasn’t acceptable at all for the first day of school.

No more dawdling then. Or stalling, more accurately, as he fixed his perfectly combed hair and smoothed at some nonexistent flaw in his slacks. He had to go, time to get started. He had his rosters and all the names he couldn’t hope to memorize right away, and in a short time he was going to meet them all.

So… time to get started.

 

He left his house with an anxious fire in his stomach, taking long, hurried strides across the half block to the subway entrance. His mind was racing and already at the end of this journey, pacing through the stone arches even as he had only just scanned his metro card.

The Metro in Paris wasn’t exactly clean and wasn’t exactly dirty, it was just well worn and a tad bit grungy like all subways tended to be. And in reality it could be way, way worse, so he was grateful for the state of it. The beeps and chimes of ticket gates and the distant rumble of the trains mixed with the chorus of the morning commuters as they poured down the steps and through the tiled halls to their platforms. It was desperately crowded, but he had been expecting that, moving forward and making his way as best he could.

A sane person would say he was too far back on the fluorescent lit platform to make it on the next train, but this person would have clearly never been a commuter. You’d be surprised how willing to cram people were when they had to be at work in the morning, and he felt himself getting pushed forward in the crowd as they readied themselves to board.

You can’t be claustrophobic on these things, but there was an etiquette to make it better for everyone. You kept to yourself and didn’t make it awkward, acknowledging that everyone had to stand somewhere, even if maybe you wished that they wouldn’t. When someone was stepping off you made a hole and then filled the space. Fairly simple, and something he had done all his life.

Adrien was jostled a little but he didn’t look up, continuing to stare off into the wide gaping mouth of the tunnel with his thoughts consumed by course work.

He had his meeting to make and he still hadn’t sorted out what to do about lunch, but he could figure that out later… He had taken the time the day before to plan out his route between all of his places to be, but had failed to locate a bathroom which would probably come up. He still hadn’t met more than a few members of faculty personally so first impressions were important-

This stream of thoughts persisted, unshakeable from his focus even as the sound of the train approaching filled the platform and the crowd shifted in intention from waiting to boarding. Even as it stopped and the still moment before the doors swung open ended he was lost in himself, shuffling forward with the herd and boarding the train quickly.

Adrien stepped on and instinctively made his way farther in, knowing he had a good many stops before he needed to switch lines. It was a ten stop ride, then a quick exchange for a few blocks over and he’d be there. Naturally he wasn’t looking or thinking at all as he stopped in the aisle of the seats, stood a short space apart from an interchangeable group of strangers in this city of millions.

Adrien was pushed in farther, and then a step farther still, and despite the understanding of the situation he was starting to get annoyed. He stood his ground and refused to be pushed farther, and a half beat later the doors were closed and the sardine can they all inhabited gave a slight jolt.

He sighed, aware of the feeling of people packed tightly on either side of him but adjusting quickly. It was only a second later that they were on their way and he could immerse himself in his head again, his consciousness in some ways a tiring swimmer that was managing, somehow, to keep his head above water.

He sank into himself, and his thoughts became a thunderous thing alongside a hundred other silent, thunderous things.

If you’ve ever ridden a subway in Paris you’d marvel, perhaps, at the silent uniformity that mornings can exude. The car would shudder and shake, whisking away a hundred different people to the places that needed going. To step into this stream is intriguing and often a necessary part of working life, but while you could imagine this as the soulless shamble of the working class, you could instead understand it as an incredible collection of unfinished stories. Or the very beginning of one. It’s impossible to know for sure.

There were chefs anticipating the morning rush, there were drivers thinking of all the places they went, and how seldom those places were home. There were mothers thinking of a hundred things, and there were teachers, born on steadily towards a new year. But more than anything, from the perspective of all others, there were strangers. With their own worries and stresses and senses of humor. And everyone had a different stop, and everything had a different

Start.

Adrien was slammed into from behind, the train slowing drastically and a fair handful of novice travelers being unprepared for the sudden deceleration. A short domino of people knocked Adrien squarely from his thoughts and into the man who had been standing only two inches from him in the cramped compartment, but whereas the people ahead of him had something to grab onto, he was thrown from feverous speculation into a frantic grapple onto the only thing available to him.

The guy.

Adrien stumbled and nearly fell outright, but he was grabbed onto firmly by the man he had almost knocked over. It was a harsh and uncomfortable jostle, but the guy was strong enough to hold him still and ride out the rest of the stop with one hand firmly gripping Adrien’s arm and the other on his side, righting them both and keeping a hold on him for a second more like he wasn’t sure if Adrien was going to pitch over again once he let him go.

The train settled with finality, though it would be off again in a second, and Adrien was aware somewhat distantly that the new riders were apologizing and getting off in a hurry. He was so disoriented from being ripped from his thoughts that it took him a second to realize the guy was talking to him, and a moment more to trace the unexpected, resonant sound, up to his face.

Adrien’s fingers loosened on the man’s sweater, disarmed and unprepared as he so often was these days, but maybe even more so. They were incredibly close together, the man’s hold on him firm as he asked him a question.

“You alright there?”

It reached him distantly but was perfectly clear, like it was the only thing he could hear in that too close space. It was only distant really because, despite all of his nervous energy, Adrien’s complete focus-

Was on his face.

It was a single moment in time, where this stranger stood above him and supported his weight, his expression kind and earnestly concerned but holding humor in it as well. Like it was funny to him that he had caught him. He was bigger than Adrien, something he was not accustomed to even if it wasn’t by much. It was impossible to tell how much taller he was in their position, because as Adrien looked up at him the difference was much more prominent and he was unprepared for it. This steady stranger.

He smiled at him, his white smile cutting through dark, warm toned skin. Everything about his face seemed warm to him, his skin and hair dark but his eyes bright and awash in humor and gold.

Maybe that was the most surprising, then. His eyes, hidden behind black rimmed glasses and slightly scuffed lenses, that’s how close he was. Adrien could not recall, at any point in his life, had he ever met someone with gold… colored…

Eyes.

The stranger’s expression shifted, his smile widening as the moment stretched on, and in a jolt of humiliation Adrien realized he had yet to take his own weight entirely from the man’s support, and that he was still being held in place.

He stood up straight, stammering almost nothing far too quickly as he backed up, apologizing profusely. The train jolted as it prepared to depart and Adrien swayed again, the man’s hands already up and ready to catch him even as he started to laugh through Adrien’s frantic statements.

“Hey it’s alright!” he assured him quickly, the words broken up by his laughing. His smile was disarming as his laughter took over his face, standing up straight himself and proving, in their still close proximity, that he did indeed have an inch or two over the flustered young man. “I’m glad you didn’t fall. You’re alright though?” he asked again, looking over him quickly for injuries maybe, though it was a short fall.

Adrien was struck again in the short moment  by the warmth that poured out of this stranger, his laughter and his face, his steady hands and good humor. And the heat that existed between them, their bodies still so close in the cramped area that Adrien abruptly felt drowned in it. Maybe that was his humiliation, or-… his thoughts were scattered at the man smiled anew, the expression now almost a grin.

And he realized he still hadn’t answered.

“I’m fine!” he said too quickly, hugging his bag to him in an effort to take up as little space as possible. “I- I’m really sorry about that, thank you- though. Thank you, I-,” he faltered, the words he didn’t have bunching up in his throat.

There was a moment of nothing, the steady thrum of the train their only company for a second in time. As well as the others, the crowd that was around them. But somehow they almost weren’t there, and he was abandoned in his embarrassment with this random, handsome stranger on the train.

Who seemed quite content to laugh.

“Sorry about that,” Adrien finally settled for, laughing nervously himself and sure that he probably looked absurd, flushed as he was. He glanced up at his eyes and they were shining, but his face had softened, like he noticed the unmissable giveaways that the poor guy was embarrassed.

“It’s totally okay,” he reiterated, their interaction only two sentences deep and seemingly set on repeating themselves, like a moment that tied back on itself and kept on forever.  This time however his voice was softer, and the chuckle was almost an afterthought. Like he had thought of something funny that had nothing to do with a young guy nearly falling in his lap.

They both looked away, and when the contact was ended it was like the world was abruptly loud again, furious to have been so utterly ignored. Now they were both overly aware of it, having broken a cardinal rule of the simple commuter’s etiquette.

The crowd was no longer faceless. They jostled and huddled because it was necessary to their travel, but now the space wasn’t cramped, it was intimate. Where at first there was a mob now there was a stranger, stood apart from the bustle and all too close.

Adrien gripped the top of one of the seats like his dignity was dependent on it, grappling internally with the heat he felt. He was embarrassed yes, but the man had effectively dulled it with his humor and his kindness. He would be stupid not to admit to himself, in the frantic privacy of his thoughts, that the event was made all the more humiliating by the stranger himself.

Adrien felt the heat around him steepen, turning further away so that the man wouldn’t see how flustered he had become.

Falling on a stranger was embarrassing.

Falling on an incredibly _handsome_ stranger was worse. And being crowded against him after having made a fool of himself and lingering on his face?

Absolutely mortifying.

He couldn’t have been more transparent, completely stunned by his face and his proximity. He wasn’t masterful at it, but he liked to pretend that he usually held it together better than that. He had been so _close_ though, and was literally holding him in his arms. He had totally cracked and it showed, internally he was berating himself for being such a school kid and he swore he could hear the man chuckling under his breath.

‘ _Smooth,’_ his thoughts laughed at him, ‘ _Smooth, smooth, smooth.’_

 

They were another stop in before Adrien let himself sigh, shaking his head a little and trying to share a bit of the man’s humor. It was funny it was just… ugh.

He did his best to ignore him, but Adrien was utterly aware of the heat of his body just behind his, all the way through the next three stops.

 

As his final stop with this train approached he readied himself to leave, grateful for the escape and the eventual distraction of school work. He waited for the man’s presence to leave him as he moved closer to the door, but was surprised to sense him still close behind, following the path he made towards the exit.

‘ _This is his stop too?’_ Adrien whined in his head, barely suppressing his embarrassed laughter. But fine, that was fair. A lot of people had connections to make from here.

Adrien attempted to clear his head and held his stuffed bag close to his side, bracing as the train slowed with one hand on the rail. He checked his watch just before the doors open, marking the time and nodding his head. Still early.

When the doors opened he was the first one off, stepping into the cool tunnel air and sighing as if to release the tension from his shoulders. He chuckled to himself now that he was free of it, walking briskly into the much quieter station, though still healthily occupied.

He wasn’t subtle with letting the man pass him, looking up at the signs to catch his bearings and missing any glance he may have shot him in order to preserve his pride. He thought he heard his laugh again, but he was probably just making things up to embarrass himself further.

His step aside to let the stranger move ahead in the crowd was brief, and once he had reacquainted himself with the path he was moving as well. There was a staircase leading up to a connecting set of hallways, then a few staircases down in different directions that would lead to his new train and a chance to regain his meager composure.

As he hurried through the station, remembering the turns a bit better now with each time he had to take them, he finally let himself laugh.

Okay that had been incredibly stupid, but he had to be fair to himself. The guy was hot and the circumstance was surprisingly intimate, any healthy person with the same sort of preference would have done the same. And it was _lame_ , but at least it was funny. As he made one of the final turns and rescanned his card he found himself thinking the same thing he had thought while listening to the charismatic violin.

He had to cut himself a little slack.

 

He was feeling definitively lighter as he descended towards his new platform, perhaps even more so then when he had been consumed by his stresses. Distractions had a way of doing that, he supposed, reorganizing your thoughts and maybe providing a little focus when you return to your senses.

At the new train he was accompanied by more moderate morning traffic this time, and he was smiling to himself as he took the final step down.

Until he looked ahead, and spotted a familiar stranger waiting patiently for the train.

Adrien stopped dead, a few people behind him huffing as they were forced to quickly go around him. When the couple re-converged he immediately took the cover, only moving forward when he was sure there were people between them and he had a little space to freak out.

Are you serious, are you freaking serious?! This is genuinely the sort of day he was going to have? The same stop, the same _connection?_

Adrien groaned to himself, self-consciously fixing his tousled hair and smoothing at his jacket. He sort of laughed too, in quiet and frazzled disbelief. Just his luck, as always

And the train was _light_ too, he noticed as it made its timely arrival. So there would not be a sea of people to hide behind. If his luck held out the man would certainly see him, and his entertainment would hold out even further.

‘ _Awesome,’_ Adrien sighed internally, preparing himself to face it with good humor. If the man could laugh about it so could he, at least he had the comfort of knowing the guy hadn’t seemed creeped out.

 

The doors opened and Adrien swallowed, determined to take his embarrassment like a man but still loitering long enough to be the very last to board before the doors slid shut. He had briefly entertained catching the next one but that would have been a little _too_ pathetic, and would have set him back.

He shuffled inside, doing his best not to look around but he _swore **again**_ that he heard him laugh a short distance away. He contemplated being stubborn and not looking around at all, but though more distant he was too aware of the man not to glance over, and of course he was steadily staring.

The stranger was already grinning when he looked over, giving a small wave when Adrien made eye contact with him that immediately made him look down, a breathy laugh escaping him as he shook his head. The stranger laughed too but after that he left him alone, seemingly content with the hilarity of it all.

Adrien wasn’t sure if he imagined the game they played, or if that’s even what it was. All he knew was that as they cleared the middle stop and he knew he would soon be stepping off, he kept stealing looks his way, examining him more clearly now that they had a little distance. He thought maybe he was doing the same, but he never caught him looking again.

The stranger was handsome at a distance as well, his clothing actually making an impression on Adrien for the first time. He was dressed smartly but comfortably, the latter clearly more of a priority but not so much so as to sacrifice style. A light gray sweater was cast over a collared button up shirt, the grid pattern clear even if the color of the lines was not. The collar poked over the neckline of the sweater and both it and the shirt were rolled up the elbows, showing his generously toned arms that had effortlessly steadied both of them when they had nearly fallen. The rest was simple but sharp, his own dark bag at his side as he went off to wherever he was heading. He had short-ish dark brown hair, styled somewhat but clearly resisting. It didn’t seem acclimated to too much attention, and was already well on its way to settling to what was likely its former self. Overall the handsome stranger stood tall, his tone build not altogether obscured by his clothing.

Adrien was jolted from his final round of staring by the slowing of the train, bracing himself on the railing and finally reclaiming a little anxiety about what today was _actually_ about. He hadn’t spent nearly as much time fretting about work as he had anticipated, well prepared for twenty minutes of endless trepidation. Instead he had been distracted by the stranger, who now he could finally get a little distance fr-

The man had stepped forward, riding out the last of the trains momentum in order to stride forward towards the door in anticipation of it opening. The movement was practiced and rehearsed, and he waited for the doors to open completely oblivious to Adrien’s mental marathon.

There was absolutely no way that this was his stop as well.

‘ _You’ve got to be kidding me, you’ve got to be **kidding me**_!’ Adrien’s thoughts screamed, practically begging now to catch a break here. He was going to think he was following him now, but as the doors abruptly opened he didn’t have time to anguish over it. He couldn’t afford to go an extra stop just to avoid an awkward explanation, even though he was genuinely considering it.

With a little effort he stepped off the train, audibly sighing in relief to see that the man had held no such hesitations, and was already too far ahead of him to notice that he had also gotten off.

He slowed up considerably, knowing that he needed to be on his way but letting the man get ahead of him. He could see him clearly as he ascended the stairs with the light traffic, heading up to street level just like he planned to.

He climbed the steps slowly, mentally preparing himself to see the stranger walking the same direction because that was the sort of day he was having. And sure enough he saw just that as he was finally above ground again.

Adrien shook his head, adjusting his glasses as he set off for the school. He felt a little less awkward knowing that the man had no idea he was still behind him, but he was sort of dwelling on the fact that this was almost certainly his daily commute then if he worked nearby. He’d have to get on a different car then, just to be safe, but the thought of having to actively avoid him actually made him laugh.

‘ _Relax a little, he was pretty cool. Who knows maybe you could even catch his name at some point. Things might be looking up.’_

The sentiment was mostly placating, but he’d take it over nothing. Plus, by now he should really be more worried about school, but surprisingly even this close it was still sort of secondary. Kind of like a, ‘ _Well I can’t possibly do anything worse,’_ sort of way. He willfully chose not to let it be an omen, but instead the lowest/not so low point of the day.

He was nearly at the end of the street now, steeling himself for what lay ahead of him. Today was going to be fine, he was going to do his best and that’s all that could be asked of him. Things weren’t as daunting as they appeared, and if he could survive an awkward subway ride then a few bored teens wouldn’t be too bad. A welcome reprieve, even. Plus, the first day of school was pretty much a throwaway anyways, mostly introductions and all that. He’d be fine, for today at-

 

Adrien froze, coming to a sharp stop at the edge of the street with his gaze fixed squarely ahead of him. He’d been absently watching the entrance as he approached it, mentally preparing himself for what lie ahead. But now he stopped completely, desperately asking any power that might listen what he had possibly done for them to hang him out to dry.

And in complete disbelief, he watched the stranger disappear into the school.


End file.
